Blind, why not help "blind"? On the eve of the "International Blind Day", the reporter investigated the current situation of blind lanes in China

Source: Rule of Law Daily - Legal Network

Editor's Note

15 October is International Day for the Blind. According to the 2019 data of the China Blind Association, there are 17.31 million visually impaired people in China. China has always attached great importance to the protection of the rights and interests of the disabled, including the blind, and in recent years, the level of social security and basic public services for the disabled has been significantly improved.

At the same time, due to the special situation of the disabled, especially the blind group, they will encounter many difficulties that are unimaginable to ordinary people in their daily life and work, and there will be many practical needs that are different from ordinary people. Since October 15, the Rule of Law Economics and Latitude edition of the Rule of Law Daily has published a series of reports on "Protecting the Rights and Interests of the Blind", with a view to using the rule of law to help the protection of the rights and interests of the blind be better implemented.

● Difficulties in traveling lead to problems in other aspects of access to education, social interaction, employment and other aspects of the visually impaired, resulting in a vicious circle of social exclusion and personal development disorders. This has had a negative impact on unleashing the potential of individuals, developing economic vitality, upholding the core values of equality and freedom, and forging social solidarity

● It is recommended that the "Regulations on the Construction of Barrier-free Environment" be upgraded to law, clarify the responsible subjects of each link in accordance with the law, and increase the mandatory force of relevant provisions. From design to acceptance, buildings and public facilities have added a one-vote veto mechanism for barrier-free acceptance, including blind lanes; improved the relevant norms for barrier-free services; and launched barrier-free public interest litigation for typical incidents, giving play to the warning role

□ Chen Lei, all-media reporter of rule of law daily

□ trainee reporter Sun Tianjiao

"Stop, stop!" When Wang Quanyou's (pseudonym's) blind staff struck a rod-shaped object, a voice shouted. It turned out that the blind cane touched the shelf selling oil pots for the morning stalls. The stall owner was anxious, saying that if he knocked over the oil pan and burned the customer Wang Quanyou would be fully responsible.

At this moment, Wang Quanyou in Beijing's Fengtai District is standing on a blind alley. "I am a blind man walking normally on the blind road, how can I know that there is a frying pan on the blind road?!"

Wang Quanyou's experience is not unique. A reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" recently visited and investigated 10 (sections) of blind lanes in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi and other places and found that each blind lane has different degrees of problems, including incoherent blind lanes, obstacles, tactile dots being smoothed out and brick damage. When interviewed by reporters, a number of blind people also reflected that the blind road was occupied and caused difficulties in traveling.

Blind, why not help "blind"?

Blind lanes are often occupied

It is difficult for blind people to travel

The blind path is a passage that lays a fixed form of ground tile on the sidewalk or other places, so that the visually impaired have a blind cane touch and foot feeling, and guides the visually impaired to walk forward and identify the direction to reach the destination.

However, the reporter visited and investigated 10 blind lanes, and various obstacles hindered the travel of blind people became a common phenomenon.

In Wangjing Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing, a blind lane is often full of shared bicycles during rush hour because it is close to the bus platform; in Chenyang Road, Hedong District, Tianjin, because there are more shops on the roadside, vans, tricycles, etc. have been parked on the blind lane, and this blind lane has been damaged in many places; in front of the Yuncheng Shopping Center Building in Shanxi Province, the blind lane is full of cars and shared electric vehicles, and it is close to telephone poles and curb obstacles...

During the period of visiting and observing blind lanes in many places, the reporter did not find that any blind people used blind lanes.

"No blind people use blind lanes" has become a "reason" for some citizens to occupy blind lanes. At about 9:00 a.m. on October 8, the reporter observed at a bus stop in Beijing that many citizens directly parked their shared bicycles on the blind lane and said that "everyone is like this, no one said not to stop."

One of the women interviewed said: "There is no other place to stop nearby, is it stopped on the main road?" And I've never seen a blind person pass by on this road, and the blind road is empty. ”

Blind lane travel is difficult, and the visually impaired people have a deep understanding.

Zhou Tong, 31, who has congenital fundus dysplasia and only a faint sense of light in his eyes, is currently working as a new media operator in a company in Beijing that makes mobile games for the blind.

"When I used to travel alone, I was not familiar with the road conditions and had to rely on blind lanes. But some of the blind road bumps are not obvious enough for me to feel; some do not avoid obstacles, and they crash as they walk; and some have all kinds of vehicles parked on them, and they have to go around, and if they are not careful, they will go around the main road. Zhou Tong told reporters.

When walking the blind road, Zhou Tong bumped her legs, touched her head, hit the wall, and fell a lot of heels, so later she was reluctant to take the blind road again, "adopting a guide dog, seeking help from passers-by or volunteers, although it is troublesome, it is better than walking the blind road."

Wang Quanyou said that he also encountered various problems on the blind alley. In addition to almost touching the oil pan, on one occasion he also touched the wheel of a car. When he tapped the wheel with his blind cane to identify objects, the driver shouted at him: "Don't touch my car." "Obviously your car is blocking the blind alley, how come I have become a troublemaker?" Wang Quan said helplessly.

Yang Qingfeng is the "Golden Blind Cane" visually impaired people's independent life training instructor, mainly responsible for training visually impaired people to travel independently, scientific and technological assistance, cooking and other life skills. "I taught them how to use the blind lanes, but in reality, the blind lanes push them back." Yang Qingfeng told reporters that he had heard and witnessed his students being injured due to obstacles on the blind road many times, and even some students said that they did not want to go out, which made him feel sad.

"Blind lanes can be regarded as the most basic blind travel facilities, blind lanes have been repeatedly mentioned for so many years, but have not been effectively solved, which has caused great trouble to blind people travel." Yang Qingfeng said.

The problem of blind passages is widespread

Regulation has not kept up

Wang Quanyou has reported to the relevant departments that the blind lane is occupied, but the results are not ideal. "I have called the 12345 hotline and reported it to the relevant departments, but usually the road conditions will be several days after the report, and it will soon return to the old state." Wang Quanyou said.

What makes Wang Quanyou even more injured is that he once questioned the occupiers of the blind passage, and some people not only did not understand, but also directly said hurtful words such as "the disabled people go out less" and "the blind road can be used, we can't use it".

"The problems in blind lanes directly affect the right of visually impaired people to travel without obstacles, and to a certain extent deprive them of the freedom to participate in social life on an equal footing." Zhang Wanhong, a professor at the Law School of Wuhan University and director of the Professional Committee for the Protection of Rights and Interests of the China Society for the Development of the Cause of the Disabled, said that the difficulty of travel leads to problems in other aspects such as education, social interaction and employment for the visually impaired, resulting in a vicious circle of social exclusion and personal development obstacles. This has had a negative impact on unleashing the potential of individuals, developing economic vitality, upholding the core values of equality and freedom, and forging social solidarity.

Li Qingzhong, chairman of the China Association for the Blind, said that the problem of blind roads is relatively common, among which the more prominent ones are the occupation of blind lanes, damage to blind lanes, and irregular laying.

The interviewed experts pointed out that behind the blind road problem is the insufficient legal supply of barrier-free facilities, the lack of public awareness, and the lack of follow-up supervision.

In this regard, Li Qingzhong analyzed that for example, the blind road management chain is long, involving planning, design, construction, daily maintenance, supervision, etc., and problems in each link may lead to obstacles; there are many management subjects, and the blind lanes in different areas belong to different departments; the blind lanes are occupied and other behaviors lack clear penalty provisions and standards, and the supervision is not enough.

"In modern society, large cities are densely populated, have limited urban space, and are difficult to govern, which is also the objective reason for the above problems." Li Qingzhong said.

In Zhang Wanhong's view, the phenomenon of blind lanes being occupied has always existed but has not been effectively treated, on the one hand, there are gaps in the implementation rules and law enforcement subjects of the legal norms for barrier-free construction related to blind lanes. On the other hand, the supervision power of the disabled groups themselves is insufficient, the public awareness is weak, and the dilemma of "the law does not blame the public" has emerged.

According to the provisions of the Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities, the construction and transformation of barrier-free facilities shall meet the actual needs of persons with disabilities. Newly-built, reconstructed, and expanded buildings, roads, transportation facilities, etc., shall comply with the national standards for the construction of barrier-free facilities projects. People's governments at all levels and relevant departments shall, in accordance with the provisions of the National Barrier-free Facilities Project, gradually advance the transformation of completed facilities, and give priority to promoting the transformation of public service facilities that are closely related to the daily work and life of persons with disabilities. Barrier-free facilities shall be promptly maintained and protected.

The Regulations on the Construction of Barrier-free Environment also make it clear that if the owner or manager of the barrier-free facility fails to protect or repair the barrier-free facility in a timely manner, resulting in the inability to use it normally, the relevant competent department shall order the maintenance within a time limit; if the user's personal or property damage is caused, the owner or manager of the barrier-free facility shall bear the liability for compensation.

Zhao Zhili, director of the International Law Teaching and Research Office of the Law School of Beijing Foreign Chinese University, told reporters that China is one of the earliest initiators of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and as early as June 2008, the Convention was formally ratified, and the introduction of a series of domestic laws and regulations such as the Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities shows that China attaches great importance to the rights of persons with disabilities. However, judging from the problems existing in the blind lanes in practice, there are still deficiencies in the implementation of the principle of accessibility, which is one of the basic principles for the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities.

For example, Zhao Zhili said that according to the "Regulations on the Construction of Barrier-free Environment", when the owner or manager of the blind road does not protect or repair the blind road in time, the relevant competent department should order the maintenance within a time limit. "But the problem is that in practice, there is a lack of implementation rules, and it is difficult to clarify the specific responsibilities of relevant departments." That is to say, although we have regulations, the rules on how to operate and who will operate them are still blank. ”

Zhao Zhizhi also mentioned that the provisions of China's "Barrier-free Design Code" for blind lanes are actually more detailed, but there is currently a lack of monitoring of implementation.

"Whether the blind lanes are occupied or the design is unreasonable, they are inseparable from the fact that supervision has not kept up, and the specific provisions on supervision are missing in the current law." Zhao Zhili said.

In Zhang Wanhong's view, for the construction of blind lanes and even the more general construction of barrier-free environments, even if the legal provisions are more detailed and strict, if they are only implemented from the management perspective, and lack of "user perspective", especially the lack of the ability for people with disabilities to express their needs, feedback experience, relief damage through various channels, and have the feasible ability to advocate and realize equal traffic rights, it is inevitable that various loopholes will appear.

Play a supervisory role

Inclusion in performance appraisals

In the face of problematic blind alleys, how to manage to protect the travel rights of blind people?

From the perspective of rule of law construction, Zhao Li believes that the linkage between the Barrier-free Design Code and the Regulations on the Construction of Barrier-free Environments can be strengthened, for example, consideration can be given to clearly stipulating in the Regulations on the Construction of Barrier-free Environments that other legal instruments on which these Regulations are based should include the Code for Barrier-free Design. This can solve the situation that the accountability problem stipulated in the Accessibility Regulations cannot be relied upon to a certain extent.

Li Qingzhong suggested that the existing "Regulations on the Construction of Barrier-free Environment" should be upgraded to law, the responsible subjects of each link should be clarified according to law, and the mandatory force of relevant provisions should be increased. For example, from design to acceptance of buildings and public facilities, add a one-vote veto mechanism for barrier-free acceptance, including blind lanes; improve the norms related to barrier-free services; and start barrier-free public interest litigation for typical events, playing a warning role.

Zhang Wanhong's suggestion is to strengthen special legislation in the field of accessibility, clarify the implementation rules, consolidate the responsible subjects, set reward and punishment rules, and enhance the binding force of relevant norms.

From the perspective of practical work, Zhang Wanhong called for strengthening the coordination role of working committees for persons with disabilities at all levels, giving better play to the joint efforts of government functional departments in the construction of blind lanes, and giving full play to the role of supervision and service of social organizations for persons with disabilities. For the design, construction, acceptance or transformation of blind lanes, it is necessary to fully listen to the suggestions of local visually impaired persons and their representative organizations; for the occupation and damage of blind lanes, more social forces can be encouraged to play a supervisory role; for the maintenance and management of blind lanes, they can try to guarantee and implement them through the form of government procurement of social services.

Zhao Zhili believes that behind the blind lane is the barrier-free problem faced by the disabled, including the blind, and the relevant staff of the government department should be regularly trained to protect the rights of the disabled, especially the maintenance of barrier-free public facilities such as the blind lane, which should be included in the daily performance appraisal of the relevant government departments.

From the perspective of specific operations, Zhang Wanhong believes that in the case of barrier-free facilities such as blind lanes that have not yet been built or improved, they can be supplemented by other means to ensure the provision of equal and inclusive public transportation services. Especially in bus stops and other public service places, adequate and professional manual guidance should be provided.

"It is necessary to take the equal participation of visually impaired people as the core, and from the perspective of improving the travel chain, systematically solve the problem of visually impaired people's travel difficulties." Blind lanes are only part of the barrier-free facilities in a certain link of the visually impaired travel, we should build a barrier-free environment that is interlocking, such as setting up a prompt tone at a traffic light intersection, and bus stations and subway stations broadcasting floors, platforms, arrivals and other information. Zhang Wanhong suggested.

From the perspective of information technology, Li Qingzhong suggested that we should actively use modern technology and use 5G and artificial intelligence technology to develop intelligent blind guidance products such as blind guidance robots to effectively solve the problem of blind travel.

"Blind lanes cannot solve all travel problems, such as identifying the surrounding environment, crossing the road, changing to other public transportation, accurately finding destinations, etc., and the development of information technology is expected to systematically solve these problems, and in the future, 'smart blind lanes' may replace tangible blind lanes." Li Qingzhong said.